


silver nitrate

by alambils



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Reveal, kinda angsty??? who knows, this is a repost from a deleted fic from a while ago so it might not be good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 20:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21482392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alambils/pseuds/alambils
Summary: a science class accident leads to shocking truths being revealed
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 7
Kudos: 81





	silver nitrate

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! So way back in like... 2015 I was a big fan of ML and wrote this fic. I posted it on AO3 and for some reason regretted doing so, so I deleted it soon after. I recently decided that even though it's not the best, I still would like it to be out there so I found the old fic and am here to post it again!

“Today, we are learning the difference between chemical and physical changes.” Ms. Mendeleiev started, gesturing at the array of materials laid out on the desk in front of her. “Each pair of lab partners needs a test tube, water, salt, and silver nitrate. Be careful with the silver nitrate, kids. It stains clothes and ruins them and if you get it on your skin, it’ll leave a black or brown stain for two to three weeks.”  
“Ugh!” Chloé groaned. “You get the stuff, Sabrina. I am not risking ruining these clothes.” Sabrina just nodded at smiled at her friend.  
“I’ll get the stuff, Alya.” Marinette said. Alya hesitated for a second, then nodded. Marinette got in line with her classmates, gathering her materials, and headed back to her seat. Marinette carried the potentially disastrous chemical carefully, not wanting anything to go wrong. Chloé, on the other hand, had different plans.  
“Watch this,” she whispered to Sabrina, the pair giggling evilly. “Oops,” Chloé pushed her textbook right in the way of Marinette. Not seeing the book, Marinette tripped over it, sending everything in her hands flying. The test tube shattered on the floor by Marinette’s face, but the rest of the materials went in a different path. The salt, the water, and, worst of all, the silver nitrate, landed right on Adrien.  
“Oh my gosh!” Chloé gasped dramatically. “Adrien! Are you okay?”  
Ignoring her, Adrien looked down at Marinette, still sprawled across the floor. “Are you alright Marinette?”  
“I-I’m fine! Just great!” Marinette glanced up at Adrien, her eyes widening as she realised what she had done. “I’m so sorry! I ruined your clothes! And your skin! It’ll be all discolored for weeks now.” It was true. The silver nitrate had splattered all over Adrien’s designer clothes, even landing in splotches on his face, hands, and neck. “Your photoshoots will be ruined!” Marinette’s face grew redder as she realised what she had just said.  
“It’s okay.” Adrien smiled at her reassuringly. “It wasn’t your fault. Besides, it’s nothing some extensive makeup can’t fix.”  
“Everyone, get back in your seats!” Ms. Mendeleiev called, causing the small crowd that had gathered around them to disperse. “Adrien, go to the bathroom, see if you can’t wash some of that off. Marinette, clean up this mess.” Adrien smiled once more at Marinette, and headed to the bathroom. Five minutes of intense scrubbing later, the spots had gotten worse, if anything. Adrien sighed, hating to think of how his father would react to this. Shaking the thought out of his head, he went back to class. Everything had been cleaned up, and class was going as normal.  
“Dude, it looks like you have a triangle on your cheek,” Nino said as soon as Adrien sat down. Leaning in to him, he whispered, “Illuminati confirmed.” Adrien stifled a chuckle and sat back to listen to the teacher drone on for another hour.

  
Chat Noir sat on the rooftop waiting for Ladybug to show up for patrol. His father had not taken the news of what happened very well. Gabriel Agreste was furious at his ‘irresponsible son’, and Adrien had to get out of the house. He had called Ladybug and asked her if she was up for a patrol. She agreed immediately, which kind of surprised him, but he was glad for it. Chat Noir heard the soft padding noise behind which meant Ladybug had arrived. Spinning around with a grin on his face, he bowed to her. “Good evening, my lady.” He looked back up at her, and was taken aback by a second by her expression.  
“Chat… what’s on your face?” She asked, her voice carrying something indecipherable in it.  
The triangle. Chat forgot to cover it up before he left the house.“Silver nitrate. It’s a chemical that stains, so naturally, I have it on my face,” Chat Noir gave her another grin.  
“H-How did you get it on your face?” Chat had never heard Ladybug sound like this before, and it kind of worried him.  
“It was an accident in science class. A classmate was tripped and spilled it on me, but it’s no big deal. Are you ready for patrol?” He offered her his hand, and she shrunk away. Ladybug looked at him with a look he had never seen before, and never wanted to see again. It was a look of anger, confusion, horror, and many other emotions he couldn’t pick out. She was frantically shaking her head, her eyes matching the horror in her expression. “Ladybug?” Chat said, concerned. In response, she turn and fled. Chat stood there for a second, wondering if that whole thing just happened. Ladybug literally ran away and he didn’t even know why. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Without Ladybug, patrol would be torture. Resigned, Chat dropped down into an alley, detransformed, and started walking home.  
A few blocks from his house, he passed another alley, and heard an odd sound like someone was crying. Being Adrien, and being Chat, he felt he had to investigate. He looked down the alley and found Marinette collapsed against the wall. Her head was in her hands, and she was shaking.  
“Marinette?” Adrien was shocked.  
Her head shot up, her eyes sharply focusing on him, narrowing and angry. “Go away,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.  
“Are you okay?” Adrien pressed, worried about her.  
“I said go away,” Marinette said, more sharply. She stood up, her body tensed, her hands balled into fists and her eyes burning. “I don’t want to talk to you.” When Adrien didn’t move, she stormed out of the alley, shoving roughly past him. Adrien watched her go for a minute. Something was troubling Marinette, something big. How stupid of him to think that she would confide in him. She could hardly even say a sentence to him. Still, it bothered him. No one should ever feel like that.

  
Ten minutes later, Chat Noir dropped onto Marinette’s balcony. This time, he had gone home to cover up his tell-tale mark. “Marinette?” He knocked on the trap door leading to her room.  
“Go. Away.” Came the vicious response.  
“Not until you tell me what’s wrong,” Chat knocked again.  
“No.”  
“I can stay out here all night, princess.” Chat sat down next to the door. “What’s wrong?”  
The door opened up and Marinette’s head popped up. “Go away you stupid cat. I don’t want to see you or talk to you right now. What don’t you understand about that?”  
“Did… Did I do something?” Chat Noir looked puzzled.  
Marinette shot him a withering look. “Does it matter? Leave me alone.”  
“No,” Chat Noir firmly said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”  
“You,” Marinette said pointedly, starting to go back in her room and close her door.  
Chat Noir grabbed the door, pulling it back open. “What’s that supposed to mean?” In response, Marinette leaned over and ran her finger over Chat’s cheek, right where he covered up the triangle. Her face steely, she held up her finger, which was now covered in makeup. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he put on an innocently confused demeanor. “You’re mad at me because I’m wearing concealer?”  
Marinette gave him one last pointed glare. “You know perfectly well that’s not what I’m mad about.”  
“Then what?”  
Marinette shook her head and closed the trap door, locking it. “Please just go away.”  
“How did you know I was wearing makeup in that exact spot?” The wheels in Chat Noir’s head were spinning.  
He jumped as Marinette pounded on the trapdoor and practically shrieked, “Go away and leave me alone! I never wanted to know! I don’t want to talk to Chat Noir or to Adrien. At all. Now, GO AWAY!” Her last words were partly lost due to the loud hiccuping sob escaping her.  
Chat was dumbstruck for a moment. She knew. How did she know? “Marinette, please, open this door right now,” he was startled by how forceful his voice sounded. The door slowly opened, Marinette still crying. “How did you know?” Chat Noir tried to soften his voice, but the urgency still crept in. Wordlessly, she pointed at his cheek. “But… that happened today. I haven’t seen you as Chat Noir except for now, and I took care to cover it up. The only person who saw me with the spot as Chat was Ladybug.” Sudden realisation dawned on his face as he looked in shock at Marinette. Without waiting for what he was going to say next, Marinette ducked back inside, locking the door. Chat Noir was left all alone on Marinette’s balcony with a head full of information and a sinking feeling that everything was about to change.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I know it wasn't the best, but it is a kinda old fic. I'm glad you stuck it out! :) There are a couple things in here you can tell really come from the early days of ML (and some ML tropes I personally dislike, but I guess I enjoyed back in 2015/16 lol) Comments and Kudos always appreciated!!


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